But Not Forgotten

Jerry Chesnut (Jerry Donald Chesnut)

Jerry Chesnut

Jerry Chesnut, the writer of such hits as Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Another Place, Another Time,” Faron Young’s “It’s Four in the Morning” and George Jones’ “A Good Year for the Roses,” died Saturday (Dec. 15) at the age of 87.

Born in the Eastern Kentucky coal-mining town of Loyall on May 7, 1931, Jerry Chesnut grew up playing country music and eventually had his own local radio show.

Jerry Chesnut served in the Air Force and worked as a railroad conductor and music teacher before moving to Nashville in 1958 to pursue his songwriting career.

Jerry Chesnut moved to Nashville in 1958 and supported himself selling vacuum cleaners door to door. His first success as a songwriter came in 1967 when Del Reeves took his “A Dime at a Time” to No. 12 on the Billboard charts.

It was the first of a deluge of high-ranking songs, among them Reeve’s “Good Time Charley’s,” Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton’s “Holding on to Nothing,” Johnny Cash’s “Oney,” Hank William Jr.’s “Pride’s Not Hard to Swallow” and Elvis Presley’s “T-R-O-U-B-L-E.”

Tall and stately, Jerry Chesnut was easily spotted in a crowd by his white, ornately decorated cowboy hat.